This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. The Gift Show’s Life x Design exhibition was held from August 30 to September 2 at Tokyo Big Sight, where the startup role in the fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) as related to gifts and other items closely related to daily life was underscored by a specialized corner which brought together several startups offering IoT solutions. At this corner, planned in cooperation with Japanese IT publisher ASCII, in addition to Mamorio, which keeps tabs on such items in one’s possession as keys and other products one might be liable to misplace, there were three other startups showcasing their products such as those monitoring infants. See also: Mamorio, major Japanese pharma tie up for dementia sufferer support Of particular interest was the startup Yukai Engineering, which engineers dental hygiene-use items such as robot-like toothbrush which is designed to motivate children as well as the elderly to brush their teeth and ensuring they are kept track of. As the average Japanese lifespan is extended, dental hygiene is said to be a benchmark to Quality of Life. Of particular interest was the startup…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Mamorio exhibits their botth at the Gift Show’s Life x Design exhibition. Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
The Gift Show’s Life x Design exhibition was held from August 30 to September 2 at Tokyo Big Sight, where the startup role in the fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) as related to gifts and other items closely related to daily life was underscored by a specialized corner which brought together several startups offering IoT solutions.
At this corner, planned in cooperation with Japanese IT publisher ASCII, in addition to Mamorio, which keeps tabs on such items in one’s possession as keys and other products one might be liable to misplace, there were three other startups showcasing their products such as those monitoring infants.
Of particular interest was the startup Yukai Engineering, which engineers dental hygiene-use items such as robot-like toothbrush which is designed to motivate children as well as the elderly to brush their teeth and ensuring they are kept track of. As the average Japanese lifespan is extended, dental hygiene is said to be a benchmark to Quality of Life.
Of particular interest was the startup Yukai Engineering, which offers IoT products as exemplified by BOCCO robot-linked toothbrush for children and even the elderly, enabling them to be monitored. Speaking of toothbrushing generally in an observation unrelated to this specific product… especially with the average Japanese lifespan continuing to be extended, dental hygiene built up from early on can be considered to indicate the level of Quality of Life.
In addition, there were other startup exhibitors providing items that uses design to market itself and even those not design-oriented but able to use unique features as stressing traditional Japanese customs and utilizing brands from the past. Collaborations among different companies from various sectors were especially eye-catching.
See the original story in Japanese. The inhabitants of our childhood dream worlds are about to populate ordinary life – yes, robots. However, for most people, it might be unclear as to how robots are supposed to help us in our lives. For example, it might be helpful to have drones deliver packages, but it is a little disappointing if that is all that robots can do. Robots and drones are supposed to make our dreams come true (or at least that is how it should be from my point of view), and they face some big challenges. Yukai Engineering, a development team particularly unique within the domestic robotics industry, released Bocco, which may help us expand such dreams. The company’s crowdfunding project, which opened on March 14, 2015 via Kickstarter, has successfully attained its target of more than $20,000 in just three weeks. In light of this event, developer and Yukai Engineering CEO Shunsuke Aoki released the following comment. For this project, we mostly appealed to foreign investors. It was our first time promoting a product outside Japan, and so the campaign took a lot of time to prepare. I am very pleased to see that we were able…
The inhabitants of our childhood dream worlds are about to populate ordinary life – yes, robots. However, for most people, it might be unclear as to how robots are supposed to help us in our lives.
For example, it might be helpful to have drones deliver packages, but it is a little disappointing if that is all that robots can do. Robots and drones are supposed to make our dreams come true (or at least that is how it should be from my point of view), and they face some big challenges.
Yukai Engineering, a development team particularly unique within the domestic robotics industry, released Bocco, which may help us expand such dreams. The company’s crowdfunding project, which opened on March 14, 2015 via Kickstarter, has successfully attained its target of more than $20,000 in just three weeks. In light of this event, developer and Yukai Engineering CEO Shunsuke Aoki released the following comment.
For this project, we mostly appealed to foreign investors. It was our first time promoting a product outside Japan, and so the campaign took a lot of time to prepare. I am very pleased to see that we were able to receive a lot of generous support as a result.
Next, let us take a look at what Bocco means for the future.
According to Aoki’s “general” explanation, Bocco is said to be a watcher robot.
If you attach this red sensor to places such as your front door, it reacts to movements, and Bocco sends a notification to a smartphone app. This enables you to find out when your children have come home, for example. The robot is good at watching and communicating.
As the promotion video shows, Bocco has its own chat app for smartphones (only for iOS at present, Android versions are to come out in July), which enables users to communicate verbally through Bocco.
By pressing the “REC” button on the robot’s belly, voice messages can be recorded. The system then sends this message to smartphones via Bluetooth. Moreover, text-to-speech services are provided from the servers, which means that chat messages sent as text will be read aloud by Bocco simply by pressing the play button. (There is no limit to the number of characters in the message, but Aoki told us that perhaps the API will place a certain limit on this feature in the future.)
In short, Bocco works as a “messenger.” Instead of handing dry electronic devices to children, the robot provides an opportunity for them to engage in a more humane form of communication.
When speaking on or receiving a message, Bocco makes a cute gesture by rolling its head. The movement really is quite robotic, and it mysteriously kindles a sense of warm sympathy.
If only I had encountered Bocco during my childhood, I might have taken a different path in my life.
Bocco in the future
While Bocco is already cuddly enough, as with drones, there may be adults who still complain, “Is that all?” Indeed, for us (especially of the Showa [Japanese calendar years from 1925 to end of the 1980’s] generation) Doraemon stands for robots. Doraemon has an infinite store of possibilities in his four-dimensional pocket.
Aoki continued:
Bocco contains a Linux box, and it can be extended from the outside. For example, say, it can control domestic electronic appliances to make the lights go on and off in response to the opening and closing of doors. Or it can respond to voice and turn on the television, or give us a warning when we are using too much electricity. I am interested in those kinds of areas associated with smart homes.
Arriving home, Bocco analyzes your day’s updates on any social media site, and then says, “You had a long day. Since you seem to be feeling stressed, I decided to buy some relaxing music for you. Would you like to listen to it?” It can be said that such a world is already on the horizon.
A founder of TeamLab, dreaming about Doraemon
Yukai Engineering’s Shunsuke Aoki
Aoki of Yukai Engineering started his career as a founding member of TeamLab (CTO). After that, he worked for pixiv before founding Yukai Engineering. When I first met him, Aoki was developing the “Eyeball Dad” which can be operated over a smartphone.
He explained:
I got into robots through ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ – I decided then that I was going to make my own robot in the future. I had been working as a CTO for about 6 years, and yet I still wanted to make robots, so I quit my job and flew to China.
Doraemon has always been my inspiration. Today, it might be something like Baymax. Robots are for me something which exist in our daily lives, always teaching us something new or helping us to realize our wishes. You know, smart homes are not very exciting since you can’t feel any human ‘presence’ there. Instead of making voice recognition for those kinds of things, I wanted to create something with more character, like an avatar. I want to make something which makes people feel excited to go home to.
Of course, this robotic vision has just gotten off the ground. Pepper, developed by SoftBank, entered our era as a pioneer. While it may take a little longer for these to have a real impact on society, perhaps more people are willing to try starting up in this research field.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Metaps, the startup best known for an app monetization platform using artificial intelligence, partnered with Japanese robotics and hardware startup Yukai Engineering towards launching a monetization platform for robotics startups. The new platform is called Metaps Robotics and willed be launched after this summer. See also: Japan’s Metaps secures $35.7M series C round to strengthen big data business Yukai Engineering pushes the limits of Japanese hardware creativity Yukai Engineering has developed social communications robots such as Coconatch and Bocco, having extensive experiences in developing products utilizing internet and sensors. Joining forces, the two companies will try to establish a new business model leveraging the cloud, sensor, hardware technologies and apps to help drive the development of the robotics industry. CEO Katsuaki Sato explained how Metaps will monetize the new platform: We plan to monetize the new platform with advertising, setting up a scheme where developers and we will share revenue. In addition to smartphones, homes and cars will also deliver the right information to the right people at the right time. So the role of advertising will be also changed. Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by Kurt Hanson Proofread by “Tex” Pomeroy
Tokyo-based Metaps, the startup best known for an app monetization platform using artificial intelligence, partnered with Japanese robotics and hardware startup Yukai Engineering towards launching a monetization platform for robotics startups. The new platform is called Metaps Robotics and willed be launched after this summer.
Yukai Engineering has developed social communications robots such as Coconatch and Bocco, having extensive experiences in developing products utilizing internet and sensors. Joining forces, the two companies will try to establish a new business model leveraging the cloud, sensor, hardware technologies and apps to help drive the development of the robotics industry.
CEO Katsuaki Sato explained how Metaps will monetize the new platform:
We plan to monetize the new platform with advertising, setting up a scheme where developers and we will share revenue. In addition to smartphones, homes and cars will also deliver the right information to the right people at the right time. So the role of advertising will be also changed.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by Kurt Hanson
Proofread by “Tex” Pomeroy
This week we had a chance to visit the office of Yukai Engineering, a really fun robotics and hardware development company based here in Tokyo. The group was involved in producing the hardware for the very clever TeamLab Hanger which we featured back in March. They also created the prototype of the world-famous Nekomimi (cat ears) project which you’ve surely seen around the web. But one of the company’s core projects these days is its Konashi computing kit, which allows artists, designers, and engineers to create smartphone gadgets very quickly and easily. The local community has responded well to Konashi too, with some really fun ideas emerging from recent workshops. This past summer they held one at Engadget Japan, where 40 people broke into five teams, with each team creating a prototype in just two days. CEO Shunsuke Aoki introduced us to an amazingly fun smart toothbrush for kids that was made with Konashi, which counts down your how many brushes (or brush strokes?) you’ve done an during a brushing, displaying the number on a smartphone as an animated character moves (see pictures over on Engadget Japan). The team that made it will turn it into a Kickstarter project, and…
This week we had a chance to visit the office of Yukai Engineering, a really fun robotics and hardware development company based here in Tokyo. The group was involved in producing the hardware for the very clever TeamLab Hanger which we featured back in March. They also created the prototype of the world-famous Nekomimi (cat ears) project which you’ve surely seen around the web.
But one of the company’s core projects these days is its Konashi computing kit, which allows artists, designers, and engineers to create smartphone gadgets very quickly and easily.
The local community has responded well to Konashi too, with some really fun ideas emerging from recent workshops. This past summer they held one at Engadget Japan, where 40 people broke into five teams, with each team creating a prototype in just two days.
CEO Shunsuke Aoki introduced us to an amazingly fun smart toothbrush for kids that was made with Konashi, which counts down your how many brushes (or brush strokes?) you’ve done an during a brushing, displaying the number on a smartphone as an animated character moves (see pictures over on Engadget Japan). The team that made it will turn it into a Kickstarter project, and hopefully we can see that soon. Aoki even seems pleasantly amused with how people are using Konashi, noting “It’s surprising that people can make something like this in just one week.”
Another fun application of Konashi was a system that will let you know when your hanging laundry has dried (pictured right). The system uses a sensor pinned to the drying clothes.
But in true Japanese style, the hanger is housed in an aluminum case that gives it a very cute look. It’s perhaps an extraneous addition, but a really fun one nonetheless.
The most interesting project that the team is working on (at least for me, as a new father) is their concept parent/baby camera called Paby. That device integrates a camera into baby crib hanging mobile, and a working parent can check in on that camera feed from anywhere using their smartphones. They can even communicate with their baby vocally, speaking into their smartphone which the baby can hear through a speaker on the mobile. The project is a joint effort with Hakuhodo, but they are looking for manufacturing partners to develop it further.
You can learn more about it in their promo video below.
Yukai Engineering 
The Bridge
Takeshi Hirano
Junya Mori
Rick Martin
